Sheeja Sasi of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] on Thursday assumed charge as the new president of the Kozhikode district panchayat.
District Collector N. Tej Lohit Reddy administered the oath of office to Ms. Sasi after she won the election held in the district panchayat hall in the morning. The election was necessitated after Kanathil Jameela resigned the post following her successful run from the Koyilandy constituency in the Assembly polls.
Ms. Sasi, who was heading the development standing committee, secured 16 votes while her opponent, Ambika Mangalath of the Congress, received nine votes. A member was absent in the 27-member council.
In the local body polls held in December last, Ms. Sasi had won from the Perambra division. She was president of the Chakkittapara grama panchayat during the 2015-20 period.
The district unit of the CPI(M) nominated Ms. Sasi to the post after the State Election Commission said the post should be filled before the by-election.
Earlier, the party had decided to nominate a member after by-election to the Nenmanda division from where Ms. Jameela had won. This was to accommodate senior leader K.K. Lathika, former legislator of Kuttiyadi. The party had been weighing options to bring Ms. Lathika to electoral politics as she was not nominated to contest the Assembly polls in April.